Chapter 1

Chloe's phone buzzed again on the conference table, Another missed call from her husband chris…as she closed the door behind her after the meeting, she texted him “the meeting ran longer than expected, will be back in a bit love love”

Before she could put back her phone in her bag,it buzzed again,it was a reply from Chris “working late tonight, don't wait up”

Her face twitch as she replaced her phone in her bag 

This has been his routine lately,he has been preparing for the major merger case, in his law firm.making him work longer than usual.

The downtown Los Angeles traffic was lighter than usual as she drove silently to her apartment, the migraine that's has been giving some signal earlier kicked in in full force,she reaches for her pills and swallowed two 

The apartment was dark and quiet.

She drew the blackout curtains and lay on the bed fully clothed. The medication took thirty minutes to work. She waited in the darkness, listening to the hum of the air conditioning and the distant traffic below.

An hour later, when the pain had dulled enough for her to stand. She walked to the kitchen for water and stopped. Chris's laptop sat open on the counter, screen still illuminated. He must have forgotten it when he rushed out that morning.

Chloe filled a glass at the sink. The laptop screen brightened automatically, displaying his email inbox. She could see the preview of three messages. One from his assistant. One from his brother. One from Molly Turner.

Her best friend since college.

The subject line reads “Can't wait to see you tonight”

Chloe's hand hovers over the trackpad. She shouldn't look. Five years of marriage…No No,there was probably an innocent explanation. They were all friends…. Maybe they were planning a surprise for her birthday in two months….buh she couldn't just hold back and tap on it, and what she saw shattered her into shreds..

“Can't wait to see you tonight. Same hotel? I'll wear that thing you like”

The kitchen tilts.her hands ran cold,Chloe scrolls up. The thread goes back eight months.

Eight months of hotels and lies

meetings at Molly's design studio. 

weekend dates when Chloe traveled for work. 

Jokes about how naive she is, how easily she trusts them both.

She finds a message from three weeks ago: “I married her because she was stable, Good investment. But I was always waiting for you”

Molly's response: “Soon. She won't see it coming”

Chloe's breath becomes shallow, her hands shaking, this are the two people she trusted after her parents, “how could they do this to me”Chloe thought aloud tears building up in her eyes 

She connected her phone to the laptop and forwarded the entire thread to her email. She went to Chris's office and printed the most damaging messages. The printer filled the silence with its mechanical sounds, spitting page after page of evidence.

She carried them to the dining table and spreads them out like evidence at a trial. Then she sits down and waits.

The apartment darkens as the sun sets. She doesn't turn on lights. She reconstructs eight months of deception. Every late night Chris claimed he worked. Every lunch Molly canceled. Every lie she believed because trust was supposed to be the foundation.

How did she miss this? She's trained to spot inconsistencies…

Three years ago, she'd exposed Henderson Pharmaceuticals for falsifying clinical trial data. Her research had sent their CEO to prison and destroyed the company…. this has been what she's good at

She should have been better at finding them in her marriage.

she was jolted back from her thoughts when his key turns in the lock. She hears him pause in the entryway, probably noticing her shoes kicked off by the door. It was 10:49pm ,He walks to the kitchen. The refrigerator opens. A beer cap twists off.

"Baby?" He calls out. "You home?"

She doesn't answer.

His footsteps move through the apartment,The bedroom,The bathroom. Then back toward the dining room. He stops.

She reaches over and turns on the lamp.

Chris stands in the doorway, tie loosened, beer in hand. His eyes go to the papers spread across the table. She watched as color drains from his face, when he recognised what it was 

"Eight months Chris?" Chloe says. Her voice steady and deadly calm

 "You've been sleeping with Molly for eight months" she stood 

The beer bottle lowers. "Let me explain."

"I read everything Chris. Every message. Every plan. Every damn lie" She yelled, the tears she's been holding up threatening to come down 

She picks up a printed page. "This one's interesting. Where you tell her you married me because I was a good investment."

"I didn't mean it like that"

"Then how did you mean it?" She asked with calm yet steady voice 

Chris sets the beer on the counter, His hand shakes. "It's complicated"

"Then Uncomplicate it I'm listening" she said leaning slightly on the dining table 

He moves to the opposite side of the table. "Molly and I have history. Before you. We never got over each other."

"So why marry me?" Her voice drops ”because I'm stable?

"Because I loved you, I do love you Chloe"he said reaching to hold her hands 

“Don't you dare touch me”she yelled in a way that made him staggered back 

You love me?yet you fucked my best friend in our matrimonial bed not once, not twice…for 8 freaking months Chris ,all the late nights you claimed you worked, you have been in hotel with her” she voiced out in one single sentence without taking a breath 

He flinches as he watched her roar like a wounded lion,

You don't understand,he mouthed 

"I understand,you made a choice , Hundreds of choices, Every text. Every lie ,Every time you touched me while thinking about her"

"You're making this about you being the victim"

"I am the victim!" She slams her hand on the table, making the papers jump. 

"You let me have lunch with Molly every week and complain about our marriage Problems she knew about because she was causing them,You let me defend you to my father when he said you were working too many late nights,You let me plan our anniversary while you were busy planning which hotel to meet her at."

She stands. Her movement is sudden enough that he steped back 

"Eight months isn't an accident,It's a choice" Chloe said in a cold voice 

She walks to the door and o

pens it, "Get out"

"Chloe…”

“You have 30 minutes to pack what you need And get the hell out of my house “